http://security.itworld.com/4337/050314hiltonhack/page_1.html James Gaskin ITworld.com 3/14/05 I know the mainstream media loves to report the Internet as the Wild West of lawlessness and anarchy (I think because it hides their own attempts to control content distribution over that same Internet). But why do so many mainstream reporters go brain dead when talking about Paris Hilton? To match her mental state? Setup: Paris Hilton's cell phone address book got hacked, supposedly through her provider's lax security. Private celebrity numbers spread across the Internet. They were real celebrity numbers, not fake ones, although some of the celebrities were, um, getting pretty stale. Can you say MC Hammer? Result: Do we blame her cell phone company, hackers, or roving bands of Wild West Web Hooligans? How about we blame Paris Hilton and recognize this is as the brazen publicity stunt it is? Paris Hilton may be brain dead, but her PR group overflows with genius. Let me explain, starting with some history. Eighteen months ago a "private" sex tape of Paris Hilton, at 19 years old and with a much older boyfriend, hit the Internet. She was shocked, shocked, that such a breach of privacy could occur. A month later, her show, The Simple Life, debuted on network TV. Was Paris Hilton too embarrassed to promote her show while coyly ignoring Internet porn questions? Absolutely not. Was the Fox Network too embarrassed to splash her semi-naked porn-actress look all over their network? Fox? Embarrassed? Not a bit. Athletes caught using steroids will give back their salaries before Fox TV blushes. The trick worked, and Paris Hilton wiggled and giggled The Simple Life to cult hit status. Fox ordered a second season of The Simple Life. During the long stretch between TV seasons, Paris Hilton felt ignored. Did she tutor poor children? No. Did she work in a soup kitchen? No. Did the news media go crazy looking for something so valuable I thought the original copy of the Declaration of Independence had been stolen? Absolutely. But it wasn't the Declaration or even the Hope Diamond, it was Tinkerbelle, the Chihuahua Paris carries to events. Ransom notes were expected, but a few days later Paris remembered - she left Tinkerbelle with her grandparents. Two quick asides. First, how brain dead are her grandparents that they didn't hear all the hubbub and call Paris on her famous cell phone? Second, if celebrities want to impress me by carrying dogs around, forget Chihuahuas. I'll bow to the first anorexic supermodel party girl I see brandishing a Bassett Hound. Tote a Toy Poodle? Boring. Pack a Pit Bull? Kudos. Now we're back to the present and the cell phone nonsense. The Simple Life season two includes Paris Hilton wiggling and giggling in fine half-dressed style, but nobody cares. Ratings are down. Civilization, at least as defined by People magazine, may crumble. Suddenly it's Paris Hilton, that poor hacking victim, all over the news. Ratings trend up. People magazine starts a Celebrity Hacking Victims column, including pictorials of hacked celebrities in swim suits discussing their favorite diets. The Weekly World News prints photographs proving Paris was hacked by Batboy and Bigfoot. Did anybody look at this PR ploy critically? No. Anyone else report stolen data when the provider was supposedly hacked and Paris Hilton's address book copied? Nope. Paris can't keep track of a yappy dog, and nobody asks where she leaves her cell phone during parties? Surely the reports of Paris Hilton using the name Tinkerbelle as her cell phone account password are wrong. That's a lot of letters for Paris to remember. I'm betting her password is "me" as in M-E. That seems to better fit her personality. I say forget all this PR-initiated, headline-seeking nonsense, or at least stop calling this a technology failure. It may be a failure, but that failure is civilized discourse and news coverage of important events. Let's go back to the way life was, when we hated cell phone companies because of lousy service and botched billing. You know, back to normal. And leave Paris Hilton to wander, half-dressed, around Fox TV. They deserve each other. _________________________________________ Bellua Cyber Security Asia 2005 - http://www.bellua.com/bcs2005
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